US citizens, divorced in Canada - how to handle Rollover IRA

britboy67 · Post by **britboy67** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 9:56 pm

We're US citizens, who married in the US, and moved to Canada about 9 years ago. Unfortunately things didn't work out, and now our divorce is being finalized. We agreed to split my US retirement funds (i.e. my Rollover IRA), but are not sure the best way to handle this. Split in the US? Or bring it over to an RRSP, and then split that? We're not planning to go back to the US, and with the low Canadian dollar some penalty for removing the IRA might not be too painful when it's back in this country... I'm not yet 50, so still have more than 10 years before I can move the IRA money without penalty.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:14 pm

You will have to split it in US first. This should not be a taxable event for either of you.

I don't see the need to bring it to Canada, but if either of you wish to to this, just make sure that you have equivalent income in Canada to ensure proper credit.

I've talked about moving IRA to RRSP in several other threads, not repeating here.